Flight Of The Bumblebee.

[LouisianaJoe]

The drone bumblebees in our area have a yellow spot at the back of the head that the females do not have. The drone does not sting. When Charlie and I were kids, we would pick the drones from the flowers and look at them then let them go. Our neighbor did not know that you should only pick up bees with the yellow spot. He could not understand why we did not get stung and he did.

 

[Class III]

I was up at my farm this past weekend sighting in a new muzzle loader and got hit by yellajax, 3x on the neck, 2x on the bald head and about a dozen times on the arms.

Like Charlie, you wont find me without a can of snuff in my pocket and I applied nearly a full can to the various stings.

Late Saturday evening, as payback, I poured about 1/4 can of Pyrodex followed by about a half gallon of 50:1 I had mixed up for the chain saws down each of the two holes. Then I got out a Roman Candle left over from the 4th of July...

I may have discovered a new way to break the top soil in the 12 acres we had cleared a couple of months ago.

Class III

 

[Imissedagain]

And I was expecting a Korsakov trio for piano and two pistols.

 

[Krell1]

I just remembered an experience I had at an outdoor pistol match a quite a few years back. Normally, in a match, your level of concentration is quite high. You follow your set routine, focus on breathing, sight picture, trigger control etc. That became very difficult to do when you have multiple yellow jackets orbiting around your head and other body parts. My concentration was immediately focused on the yellow jackets and not what I was doing. Needless to say my score suffered and I never went back to that range.

 

[Rule3]

Bumble bees, unlike Honey bees can sting multiple times, They do not have barbs which is what rips the stinger out.

They are not bugs,

All bugs are insects, not all insects are bugs.

So endeth the lesson.

 

[wuluf]

What, 45 responses and no one has yet suggested a caliber for bees???

 

[vigil617]

.22 Hornet, maybe?

 

[arjay]

38 sp. 3.5 gr BE,over powder card,fill the balance with # 12s,another card and sealed with caulk.

 

[vigil617]

Brings the bees to their knees.

 

[therevjay]

Stepped on a bumble bee barefoot when I was about 6. I've never gone barefoot outdoors since. And yes bmble bees CAN sting multiple times!

 

[alwslate]

What, 45 responses and no one has yet suggested a caliber for bees???

Since I live in the country I can shoot in my own yard. I have
an old Remington 514 single shot 22 rifle that shoots to
point of aim at about 30 ft with 22 Short CBs. Bumblebees
like the little purple flowers that pop up in my yard and will
sit on them for a few seconds. My record so far is 45 bees in
one summer.

 

[Bib]

We have a lot of yellow jackets that nest in the ground in my area and every once in a while you will run over them with the lawn mower. Mrs Ogandy... is extremely allergic to even honey bees. Needless to say we are very careful when we are out in the yard. We also have a rather healthy infestation of big black boring bumblebees or some call them carpenter bees. I understand the males do not sting but, then how can you tell the difference?

Males have a white or yellow face....females do not. Females can sting but rarely do.